Copy Cats

Who wouldn’t want to live in a world full of cute cats? Unless you have a serious case of allergies, you can’t deny it wouldn’t be an enticing prospect. With the brand new NetEnt release, the developers decided to dip their toes into something new – duplicating symbols. This is the first slot by NetEnt to feature something like this and it represents the main draw of this 5-reel 25-payline game. So step into the parlour, take a seat, relax, and let’s find out if Copy Cats is as good as it shows itself to be. Just watch out for the cat hair on the couch.

Credit where it’s due, the developers know how to make a smooth presentation. Graphics are simple and to the point, but they are happily cat-themed and avoid the pitfall of poker card icons being all over there place. This pairs nicely with a smooth jazz soundtrack which blends in the background as you focus on spinning the reels and herding as many cats on the playing field as possible.

See, acting like a crazy cat lady pays off here specifically due to the duplicating symbols special feature, which can pay handsomely. Can being the operative word, however. It seems that the trend of NetEnt slots to look great and be a bit skimpy on actually paying up. Copy Cats is a low variance game, but it has a lower maximum win than Wild Wild West from the same developers, and it loses a bit of excitement when it’s compared to similar releases by other companies.

The main focus of money making is obviously the duplicating symbols, which is how the slot got its name in the first place. As such, there aren’t any progressive jackpots to work towards, and the base game wins can feel somewhat downtrodden compared to other NetEnt releases. Then again, this is nothing new for the company, as their focus was always on awarding big special feature wins.

And despite our criticisms, it is hard to deny that you couldn’t carry away a lot of cash if you get lucky with the cat placement. But the slot doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and when compared to competitors, it just fails to bring as much excitement for a huge win from us. It is a shame, because we do actually like Copy Cats. But this is something that we have to dock points for.

Like standard, the game is split into lower and higher paying icons. Cat paws for which the only difference is colour, a dead fish, milk, a mouse toy, and three cool cats hanging about. We feel it is a slightly missed opportunity on NetEnt’s end that the paws don’t match up to the cat colours, but what can you do.

Keep an eye on those cats, because they know how to reshuffle for a sizable win. If you get a full first reel of any cat, all other cat symbols will transform into that cat as well, and seeing as the four cats are the highest paying icons in the slot, you can see why that would be exciting.

And yes, there are four cats. The fourth cat, a small golden kitten, represents Wilds in this game. This does theoretically mean that you could have a reel full of Wilds on the playing field. Even without that, having them all over the screen being able to replace most other symbols is bound to deliver a satisfying win as well.

Finally, Scatters in the form of cat bells activate free spins. They only appear on the first, third and fifth reel, and when they appear on all three at the same time, they award 10 extra turns. While the feature is active, you can keep retriggering the bonus by scoring Scatters on the first, third and fifth reel again.